


Stay Close to Me

by SecretlyAnonymous



Series: Sticks and Stones [1]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), race to the edge - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Don't copy to another site, Dragons: Race to the Edge, F/M, Race To The Edge, THERE IS PLOT, Time Travel, but theres already several chapters from his perspective, but this isnt really his story, hiccup (15) goes to the future, httyd 1, i dont consider it graphic, i hope you book fans are happy, i might write a companion from his perspective, rtte, several nods, there are nods to the books, there is also violence, this isnt just crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-09-06 13:02:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20291896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretlyAnonymous/pseuds/SecretlyAnonymous
Summary: Hiccup was captured by Viggo. He wasn't expecting any other prisoners to be there, and he definitely didn't expect one of them to be himself.





	1. Caught (Big Hiccup)

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of set in season 2/posts1e11, but I'm kinda screwing with the timeline. If you've watched RttE, you'll know what's going on.  
On another note: MY FIRST COMPLETE MULTI-CHAPTER FIC  
this is complete and I will update every Saturday until it's all uploaded. 
> 
> Thanks so much to my beta, [@Tybalt-tisk on Tumblr](https://tybalt-tisk.tumblr.com/) and [on AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tybalt_tisk/)
> 
> The tag ["don't copy to another site"](https://evilwriter37.tumblr.com/post/187593611275/ao3s-users-alert-unauthorised-fanworks-copying)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Imprisonment, introductions, and favors.

Viggo had lured him away from the other Riders.

He was such an idiot. It was obvious. He’d been lured away and now he was trapped in a cage deep underground. His friends would never find him.

Viggo was smart. Smarter than the other people that had captured him. He had no weapons and no dragons. He still had his leg, but it was tied to wrists, leaving him to arch uncomfortably. He couldn’t run.

He saw and heard nothing for several hours, but at some point – the sun must have gone down by then – four men came into the cell. One stood guard, two of them held him down, and the fourth pulled out a pair of shears. He grabbed Hiccup’s hair violently and cut off his handful of hair before he shoved him back. The other three guards left with the fourth. Hiccup glared.

It was several hours after when there was an explosion. Or at least what sounded like one. The cell around Hiccup vibrated. He waited – it could be the Riders, it could be something else.

He hoped it was the Riders.

Several minutes later, Viggo opened the door.

Behind him were the four men from before, plus two more guards and two prisoners.

The prisoners were thrown into the cell. They were just as tied up as Hiccup. They scrambled to their feet and Hiccup got a good look at their faces – they were him and his dad. Hiccup stared at the two. Neither seemed to recognize him. How were they here?

Viggo smirked. “Like my surprise? I’ve been working on a test for a while now and I needed a subject. Harnessing the power of a skrill…and you. Now that I can bring people and objects through time, however, I can accomplish so much more.”

Hiccup felt sick. “Viggo what did you do?”

“I brought them forward in time. They are from your past.”

Viggo turned and walked away.

Hiccup leaned against the door and turned to face the other two.

“What’s going on?” Stoick asked.

Hiccup mulled over the words. “I think... you’re in your future – my present. Maybe…three years out?” He studied little Hiccup. Two legs. “Four looks about right.”

“Who are you?”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. “If you can’t tell from looking at me, I’m not telling you.”

Stoick glared, but little Hiccup said, “Wait.” He’d figured it out.

Hiccup grinned at him. “My friends are probably going to come rescue us. We’ll have to grab my friend, Toothless, since Viggo’s got him tied up somewhere.”

Little Hiccup gasped and let out a chuckle.

Stoick rounded on him. “You know him?”

Hiccup shrugged. “We have a mutual friend.”

Little Hiccup turned away from his father. “You said your friends will be here?”

Hiccup nodded. “Probably. They’re at least looking for me. Unfortunately, Viggo’s prepared for that. Here’s what’s likely to happen: Viggo uses us as hostages and captures my friends when they arrive. Option two is we try to escape, with some level of success. Viggo’s planning on that, though, so probably what’ll happen is I go back for the Skrill, and Viggo takes the opportunity to take you hostage. This is all happening as my friends arrive, which is the only reason he has to do this, so after I give up, he holds us hostage and makes them give up. Then he either attacks our home, makes us work for him, or both.”

Stoick and little Hiccup watched him with wide eyes. Hiccup frowned. “We’ll have to find some way to avoid that.”

“There’s no way,” little Hiccup gasped.

Hiccup smiled, “Not exactly like that, no,” he allowed, “but those are best case scenarios. Viggo could have a different trap in place. He could be planning to let us go, for some reason, or to kill us here and now.”

“What’s most likely?” Stoick demanded.

“Viggo’s a grand plan kind of a guy. He likely has a huge plot to let us go and take us out some other way.”

Little Hiccup said, “Let’s get out of here, then, and work on circumventing Viggo’s plan later.”

Hiccup nodded in agreement. “Can you work with Toothless?” He asked little Hiccup.

“Yeah,” little Hiccup said, “But we don’t have much practice.”

Hiccup nodded. “That’s okay. He can do most of the work, he just needs someone to work the harness.”

“What are you two talking about?” Stoick frowned. It tickled at Hiccup. Had his father’s frowns become more friendly over the past few years?

From the way little Hiccup subtly edged away from Stoick, it seemed like it.

“Our escape,” Hiccup said. “Toothless will help us get out of here, but he’ll need help. I was making sure your son knew how to help.”

“Dad,” little Hiccup said hesitantly, “I need you to trust us, even if it looks bad.”

Stoick’s frown deepened. “What does that mean?”

Little Hiccup began to say something, but Hiccup interjected, “It means that our means of escape will be confusing to you and you’ll probably want to get angry. We need you to promise you won’t, at least not until we’re safe.”

“Okay,” Stoick said, “what’s the plan?”

“I’ll get you two to Toothless and adjust his harness so Hiccup can do his part. Then I’ll get the skrill and catch up.”

Stoick blinked. “Skrill? How are you going to get that without dying? Why?”

Hiccup winked. “I have my ways. Viggo captured the skrill a while ago and has been using it to attack us. It’s too dangerous a weapon to leave in Viggo’s hands. Knowing him, he brought us to his base, believing it to be too fortified for us to escape. Or as a trap of some kind. Either way, the skrill will be here.”

“How will you escape?” Little Hiccup asked.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. “I’ll have a skrill.”

Everything was quiet for a while. Little Hiccup worked at his chains until they came off, then a familiar face appeared.

“Heather!” Hiccup exclaimed.

“Hey,” Heather said, “Viggo doesn’t know I’m here. Ryker only let me come because he wants to taunt you.”

Hiccup grinned. “That’s fine with me.” In a lower voice, he said, “they can’t know who I am,” he gestured to the others, “so until further notice, we’re siblings.”

Heather raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Lemme guess, it’s because if we see my brother, he’ll call you ‘brother’.”

“Yeah,” Hiccup said. “Will he try to stop us?”

“Oh, almost definitely.”

“Wonderful.”

Heather snorted. “I’ve unlocked Toothless’ cell, but he’s still in there. Your stuff is in there, too.”

Heather unlocked the cell and their chains.

“C’mon, I’ll take you to Toothless.”

Stoick and little Hiccup followed them , but they ran into Dagur just one corner from their cell. He stopped, blinked, and said, “Brother, what are you doing here?”

Hiccup grabbed Dagur’s arm, “Dagur, I need to talk to you.” He turned to Heather, “Go ahead and take them to Toothless.”

Heather nodded and dashed off, little Hiccup and Hiccup following.

“Please don’t kill me,” Hiccup said.

Dagur raised an eyebrow. “Thirty seconds,” he said, “then I attack.”

“Viggo figured out how bring people through time. Those people were me and my dad from four years ago. I need to escape and figure out how to return them to their time.”

Dagur’s other eyebrow had joined the first. “And how do you plan to do that?”

He explained his plan, praying to the gods that Dagur wouldn’t turn on him.

“Fine,” Dagur sighed, “I’ll take you to the skrill. But you owe me.”

Hiccup nodded, “Of course. Thanks Dagur.”

The skrill was in the center of the camp, according to Dagur, tied down and half submerged.

They didn’t encounter many difficulties. In fact, nothing happened until they were around halfway to the skrill.

It set Hiccup on edge.

They were hiding behind one of the tents when someone blew a horn. Dagur cursed. “That’ll be the signal that you’ve escaped. We need to hurry.”

No one was guarding the skrill.

Dagur pulled out a set of keys, unlocking the cage.

The skrill, naturally, threw a fit when it saw them. Hiccup ran over to undo the chains, barely visible in the murky water. The skrill calmed down a little. It seemed to recognize him. Dagur glanced at Hiccup.

“Go,” he said, “Don’t get caught.”

Dagur nodded and ran off.

He turned to the skrill. “Hey…” he held his hand out. “Can we do this? I just need you to take me home.”

The skrill screeched at him, but allowed him to climb on its back.

“Thank you,” Hiccup said. The skrill screeched again and took off.

Beneath him, Viggo screamed.

Toothless had set down on an island about half a day’s trip by boat. By dragon, it was an eighth the time.

“Thank you,” Hiccup touched the skrill’s snout, “for saving me.”

The skrill bowed, turned, and flew off in the direction of the archipelago. Hiccup turned to the others. Toothless sat between little Hiccup and Stoick.

“He started to yell at me,” little Hiccup offered, “so Toothless got in the way.”

Hiccup snorted. “We’ll rest here for a while. I don’t know what Viggo did to Toothless, but we want him to have energy if he’s going to carry us back.”

As he talked, he rifled through his stuff. An extra leg (always good), his flight suit – score! – some rations, leather, flint, a toolkit… it looked as if Viggo’s guards had left everything alone.

“Viggo let us go. He’s smart – the smartest man I’ve ever met. Our escape was too easy. Hey Hiccup, can you set up a fire?”

Little Hiccup got up.

“Why don’t you explain your friend to me while he does that?” Stoick raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not reacting the way I thought you would,” Hiccup mused.

Stoick waited patiently. Hiccup got the feeling there was a storm inside that Stoick had mastered the art of hiding.

Hiccup told Stoick a shortened version of the story of how he met Toothless. During that time, little Hiccup came back with the firewood.

“Toothless?” The dragon blasted the pile. The light of the fire didn’t help Stoick’s appearance. “Who’s feeling fish?”

“And how would we acquire that?”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, mimicking his father’s habit. He gestured to Toothless. “He can catch enough to feed all four of us.”

Toothless proceeded to do just that. Stoick edged closer to Toothless, snatching his fish and quickly retreating, like a frightened cat.

Toothless rolled his eyes. Hiccup patted him on the side. “Give it time, buddy.”

The dragon snorted.

“Can you understand him?” Little Hiccup blinked.

Hiccup gave half his fish to a terror that was sniffing at it. “Yeah, in a way. He just ‘said’ “I gave it four years already.””

Little Hiccup watched in awe as his older counterpart checked Toothless over.

“That’s ridiculous.” Stoick said, “Dragons are animals. They can’t understand us.”

Toothless snarled gently at Stoick, but Stoick didn’t seem to realize the harmlessness of the action. He narrowed his eyes.

“Toothless says he likes “our Stoick” better. I don’t blame him.” 

“If you know me already, I’ll assume you’re a friend. I don’t trust you though.”

Hiccup shrugged. It didn’t bother him in the slightest. This man wasn’t his father, plain and simple. “I’m still going to get you home.”

Stoick frowned. “Back to our time? I can’t wait.”

Hechecked the moon. “I’m going to take a nap,” he announced, “if you could wake me up in a few hours, that would be great.”

He didn’t wait for response, just laid back against Toothless.

—-

He was shaken awake as the sun was rising. Little Hiccup, terror in his arms, pointed to the horizon. Ships.

Stoick was asleep as well. Little Hiccup looked exhausted; he clearly hadn’t slept at all. Hiccup blinked.

“Thank you. Once we’re in the air, I’ll show you how to tie the foot pedal in place and you can sleep.”

Little Hiccup nodded and wandered over to his father. Hiccup set about preparing to fly. His flight suit was undamaged, so he decided to glide. The strain of carrying two people was enough of a burden.

They were in the air before the ships were distinguishable.

“Alright, Toothless,” Hiccup patted the dragon’s side, “let’s get up as high as we can.”

“Why?” Stoick asked.

“You’ll see.”

When they were high above the clouds, Hiccup pulled out a rope. “Tie yourselves to Toothless’ harness.”

Little Hiccup wound the rope around his middle without comment, but Stoick refused.

“Hiccup, you know what falling out of the sky feels like,” Hiccup said, “Can you convince him?”

Little Hiccup shook his head. “You know him, he doesn’t listen to me.”

Fair – Hiccup’s relationship with  _ his _ Stoick had progressed a lot.

Stoick frowned at little Hiccup. “Yes I do!”

“No you don’t,” Hiccup said, “not yet, anyway. Look, if you want to fall to your death, fine, I won’t stop you. But then you’ll be leaving Berk without a chief – because you clearly haven’t trained  _ him _ at all to take over the position.”

Stoick crumbled and wrapped the rope around himself.

“Thank you,” Hiccup said, standing up.

“What are you doing?” Little Hiccup said, alarmed.

“This!”

Hiccup ran and jumped off of Toothless’s head. Little Hiccup and Stoick screamed in alarm, and then in fear, as Toothless took off after Hiccup. When he’d built up enough speed, he reached down and opened his wings.

Little Hiccup laughed. “You’re flying!”

Hiccup flashed a smile behind him. “Yep!”

He glided most of the way home – about a day’s flight. Gravity naturally pulled him down, and Toothless glided with him. They spent a few minutes only feet above the water, enjoying the smell. Then Hiccup tucked his arms in and dropped into the water.

Toothless grabbed Hiccup and they restarted the process.

It took three dips before they reached any familiar land, a small island just inside “their” territory.

On it was Snoutlout, who was, naturally, sleeping.

Hiccup landed – crashed – onto the beach, kicking sand all over Snotlout, who jumped up with a startled shout.

“I was just taking a break!” Snotlout defended when he saw Hiccup.

“Of course you were,” Hiccup agreed easily, “A break from what?”

Snotlout rolled his eyes. “Looking for you. Then waiting for you, once Heather’s terror-mail arrived – what happened to your hair?”

“Viggo. What did she say?”

Snotlout shrugged. “She said she’d break you out… and she mentioned something along the lines of like… time travel?” He rubbed his neck, “I don’t really know what that means, but…”

Hiccup nodded. “It means this,” he stepped aside, revealing little Hiccup and Stoick.

Stoick glared as soon as he realized it was Snotlout he was looking at. “You’re in on this -“ he flailed his arms “- draconic mutiny?”

Snotlout stared at them for a few minutes, then scoffed. “Why am I not surprised?”

“I’d be worried if you were,” Hiccup smirked. “Viggo’s been pulling this shit since we met him.”

“Is everyone on Berk in on this?” Stoick said, “speaking of Berk, where are we? I haven’t recognized a single island so far.”

“Yeah, pretty much all of Berk is in. You, Gobber… even Spitelout.” Hiccup shrugged, “Toothless is a good influence. As for why you don’t recognize where we are, that’s because we’re actually several day’s flight from Berk.”

Stoick looked skeptical. “How far is that by boat?”

“A week?” Hiccup looked at Snotlout, who shrugged.

“We don’t really travel by boat anymore.”

“Why not?”

“We really only use boats if there’s a lot of stuff to carry around,” Hiccup explained, “when it’s just people, we use dragons.”

Hiccup turned to Snotlout. “Let’s get back to The Edge. We can send a terror-mail once we’re there.”

Snotlout nodded and turned to climb onto Hookfang. Hiccup turned to his other companions. “Who wants to fly with Snotlout?”

Stoick glared at Hookfang, then at Toothless. Hiccup saw the man’s resolve at the same time as his younger counterpart. Little Hiccup trudged to Hookfang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who can guess the ending/climax?


	2. The Edge (little Hiccup)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting Toothless, revelations, and new relationships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m changing my schedule to Saturday’s since it’s more convenient

Hiccup trudged to the Monstrous Nightmare. It had been two days since he’d had a good sleep, though he had several long naps on Toothless’ back earlier.

His surprise at being woken up a day and a half ago by an unknown man was replaced by his surprise at being thrown into a cell with himself – an older looking Hiccup. There was something different about this place, something was missing.

His dad hadn’t seemed to realize what was happening, and Hiccup was relieved by that. Older Hiccup seemed to want to keep the man in the dark too, because he hadn’t told Stoick anything. Dagur – a Dagur that looked very different from the one Hiccup knew – had called the older Hiccup brother during their escape. What did that mean, and why had the man accepted it? Stoick had taken that as an indicator of big Hiccup’s identity. Hiccup didn’t think his older self noticed that, though, as he dragged Dagur away and sent him and his dad along with the girl – Heather.

Heather led them through the base: three rights, two lefts, a near catch, and another right later, they arrived at Toothless’ cell.

They hid in the corner for a moment while a guard passed by. Stoick asked, “Where is he?”

“Toothless,” Hiccup started, “Can you give me a low burn?”

The purple glow illuminated the cell, including Toothless. In the far corner were the harness, a saddle pack, and Toothless’ prosthetic tail – bright red with a skull painted in white.

“Get the prosthetic,” Hiccup said. Heather ran to get it and began attaching it to Toothless’ tail. He grabbed the harness and saddle pack.

“What in Odin’s name is this?” Stoick demanded.

“Dad…” Hiccup began, “You promised not to get angry.”

He faced Toothless, scowling at the harness – or rather, the foot. It wouldn’t fit his foot, and it hadn’t escaped his notice that the older Hiccup was missing a leg.

Heather said, “The exit isn’t far.” Hiccup ripped part of the foot grip apart and reshaped it. “Viggo wanted to minimize casualties if Toothless were to escape.”

“That doesn’t sound like him,” Hiccup muttered, “based on what…” (Hiccup decided to go with what seemed to be the “cover story”) “Dagur’s brother? told us.”

“My brother,” her brother? How many “siblings” did he have? “has the least experience out of the three of us with Dagur, but that’s because he’s the only one actively engaging Viggo as an enemy.”

Hiccup blinked. “You and Dagur are allied with Viggo?”

Heather shrugged, “Dagur is. I’m kind of a spy? It’s complicated, but my brother and I are trying to stop Viggo while Dagur’s working for him.”

A shadow blocked the light. “You’re what?”

Heather gasped. “Ryker!”

The man grabbed Heather’s arm. He was a tall, bald man, muscled and tattooed. He wasn’t the sort of person whose bad side Hiccup wanted to be on.

“Go!” she shouted.

Hiccup hopped onto Toothless. He turned to Stoick. “Get on.”

“No,” Stoick snarled.

“Dad, you promised you wouldn’t get mad until we were safe!”

“I agreed to that before I knew your “friend” was a dragon.” Stoick declared, “No way am I getting on that.”

“Dad, if you want to live, get on Toothless,” Hiccup shouted.

Heather said to Toothless as Ryker gripped her, “Go down the hallway, turn right at the second intersection, then through the door at the end of –” Ryker’s hand covered her mouth.

Toothless nodded. He took off, blasting past Ryker, and disappearing down the first right before he could do anything. Luckily, the instructions that Heather had managed to get out led them outside, where Toothless immediately took off. It was a little clumsy; Hiccup’s foot didn’t fit the harness perfectly, and it seemed to have years of perfecting, leading to it being slightly different than the one Hiccup was becoming accustomed to, but they got into the air.

The moon was just rising, and Toothless put it on their left. Hiccup let the dragon lead, since he had no idea where they were going. It was quiet. Too quiet. It rang in his ears as a high-pitched tone.

They passed over several islands, until about an hour and a half flight landed them on an island far from their captors.

The moment both were off of Toothless, Stoick rounded on Hiccup.

“What’s going on? How do you know that man?”

“I don’t know what’s going one or who he is,” Hiccup said.

“Yes, you do,” Stoick decided, “Why do you know how to fly that dragon?”

“I just met him, Dad,” Hiccup sighed.

“How do we know it won’t just kill us now? Or fly away?” Stoick mused. 

“Dad –”

“We should probably just kill it here and now.”

“No –”

“I have to keep you –”

“DAD!” Hiccup shouted.

Stoick stopped. “What?”

“Toothless won’t hurt us, he just saved our lives,” Hiccup grit his teeth, “And he won’t abandon us because he can’t fly on his own.”

“What are you talking about?” Stoick seemed to not realize how he was advancing on Hiccup. “Of course, it can, it flew here!”

Toothless casually inserted himself between Hiccup and Stoick, showing off his prosthetic tailfin. “I use my foot to control the prosthetic,” Hiccup explained, “And Toothless and I work together to get to where we’re going.”

Toothless snorted and plopped down, dragging Hiccup with him.

It was only a few minutes before big Hiccup arrived. He exchanged some sort of conversation with the dragon – a skrill – and set Hiccup getting a fire set up while he and Stoick talked. Toothless lit the fire and caught the four of them some dinner, they had a short conversation, including Toothless, and then big Hiccup took a nap. Stoick stayed up a while longer, eying Toothless. The dragon, in turn, rolled over so his back was facing Stoick and he was curled around big Hiccup.

“You can’t be serious,” Stoick said, “To trust them?”

Hiccup shrugged. “I know Toothless, okay, and his rider just saved our lives. I trust them. You should, too.”

Stoick snorted angrily. “One wrong move and I kill that thing.”

“Do that,” Hiccup said, “And we’ll never get home.”

Stoick rolled his eyes.

“I’d never trust you again,” Hiccup added, “Nor would I ever speak to you.”

Stoick accepted that with an eyeroll. Toothless dropped his tail in Hiccup’s lap. Stoick turned away and laid down.

Hiccup took the chance to examine his older self. The phrase “big Hiccup,” was accurate, because he _ was _big; at least a foot taller and twice Hiccup’s weight. He was completely comfortable sleeping with a dragon at his back, something Hiccup was quickly getting used to as well. And his leg: it cut off halfway down the knee, replaced by an ingenious prosthetic. The sight of it was enough to roll Hiccup’s stomach. 

He turned away and faced the horizon.

The sun was rising when Hiccup saw the shadows of ships. The terrible terror from the night before came sniffing and Hiccup picked her up. He woke his older self up and headed to get his dad up. The terror climbed onto his shoulders as he did so, and his dad scowled at both of them. Hiccup turned around to roll his eyes.

Big Hiccup put on some sort of suit, watching Hiccup as he did so. It took a bit of haggling to get Stoick back on Toothless, but Stoick seemed to realize that Viggo was worse than Toothless, because he got on with little argument.

Hiccup thought that once they were in the air, high above the clouds, he’d get to sleep, but big Hiccup proceeded to _ jump off the dragon _and fly himself.

Toothless dove after big Hiccup, and Stoick screamed in terror. Hiccup pretended he was scared too, and not that he was screaming because Stoick’s grip was so strong it hurt, or that the terror had embedded her claws in his shoulders to hold on.

Hiccup finally got rest as they glided. Big Hiccup told him how tie the foot pedal in place with a piece of leather so he could sleep. The terror curled around his neck as he leaned forward and slept.

Three naps, each interrupted by Toothless climbing back into the air to drop big Hiccup and dive to clouds, later, they landed on a small island, where Snotlout was sleeping a few feet from a monstrous nightmare.

Stoick was even more distrustful of the nightmare –Hookfang, Snotlout called him– so Hiccup agreed to fly with him.

Snotlout sat Hiccup in front of himself and put his arms around him to grab the handles on Hookfang’s gear, brushing against his arms.

They were in the air, though, still heading south, when Snotlout’s arms brushed against Hiccup’s shoulders. Hiccup involuntarily gave a full-body wince, and Snotlout noticed.

“What’s wrong with your arms?” he asked. Hiccup shrugged and winced again. “Hiccup.”

“I’m a little hurt, but it’s fine, really.”

Snotlout wasn’t taking it, though, and made Hiccup take off his vest, where the bloodstains were clearly visible through his green shirt. The terror sniffed at the blood and made a wounded noise.

“She didn’t mean too,” Hiccup said, “She was just trying to hold on. Toothless is too fast for her to keep up with.”

Snotlout pulled forward so they were even with Toothless. “Baby Hiccup is injured. Let’s set down.”

Big Hiccup took in the bloodstains and nodded.

“Shirt off,” Snotlout demanded. Hiccup rolled his eyes but took the shirt off. Snotlout threw it at big Hiccup. “Clean that please.”

Hiccup’s shirt and vest were hung up to dry on a branch while Snotlout wrapped the tears in Hiccup’s shoulders. Big Hiccup watched him, and Hiccup squirmed, not used to being judged so harshly.

“Stay still,” Snotlout muttered, while big Hiccup gaped.

“Where did you get these bruises?” he asked, poking said bruises.

Hiccup shrugged, “Dad was just holding onto me.”

Big Hiccup looked horrified. He whirled to face Stoick. “You grabbed him so hard it left bruises? How dare you!”

Hiccup tried to defend Stoick, “He’s not used to falling out of the sky. It was an accident!”

“I don’t care,” big Hiccup growled, “You don’t ever grab a child that hard. If you wanted something to hold onto, grab the fucking saddle. For Thor’s sake Stoick, you were _ tied _ to the dragon!”

Stoick wasn’t listening, staring at Hiccup’s bare chest with wide eyes. “Where did you get those scars?” he asked, aghast.

Hiccup shrugged as Snotlout tried to wrestle him into standing still enough to finish wrapping the wounds. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Blacksmith’s,” Snotlout answered, moving onto the other shoulder. “Not Gobber. Other people are rough with him and it has its consequences.”

“No way,” Stoick denied it immediately. “Not possible. I would know.”

“Okay, rephrase,” Snotlout spat, “_I_ did that to him. _The_ _twins_ did that to him. And you, who never bothered to check up on your own son, would deny him being in pain to the person who put him through that pain in the first place?”

Stoick stared. Snotlout ignored him, focusing entirely on Hiccup’s wounds, which were almost completely bandaged. He continued in a softer voice, “I pushed him and jeered and laughed when he fell even when it was onto sharp weapons.” Snotlout's voice hitched. “I don’t think I ever apologized for that.” He finished wrapping Hiccup’s shoulder and turned him around. “I’m sorry Hiccup, for how I treated you. It was terrible and I shouldn’t have done that.”

Hiccup stuttered, unprepared for the apology. Snotlout was really apologizing? He meant it, regretted those days? “I uh… thank you for your apology? I’m sorry, I don’t think I can forgive you. At least, not yet.” He flinched, almost expecting Snotlout or his older self (why would big Hiccup hurt him? They were the same person for Odin’s sake!) to hit him.

Snotlout looked like he was about to get angry and demand Hiccup forgive him, but he took a deep breath. Big Hiccup put his hand on Snotlout’s shoulder. The man gave him a smile, obviously fake. “That’s okay. You’re under no obligation for forgive me.”

He grabbed Hiccup’s clothes off the tree they’d been left on. They were nearly dry, so Snotlout let Hiccup wear them.

Getting back on the dragons was less of an effort this time around, Stoick thinking too hard to put up a protest about getting onto Toothless’ back, though Snotlout insisted the terror climb into an empty saddle pack instead of Hiccup’s shoulders. The terror responded by hissing at him and climbing onto Hiccup’s head.

Snotlout threw his hands up. “I don’t see how that’s any better,” he told the dragon, but he allowed her to stay where she was. He was careful not to touch Hiccup’s shoulders all the way to The Edge.

The ride gave Hiccup time to think. Snotlout had _ apologized _. Hiccup had never imagined him doing that, much less standing up on his behalf. Hiccup’s Snotlout would have laughed. Hiccup’s Snotlout would have left him to bleed.

This one didn’t.

** **

The Edge, as it turned out, was an island, rather large compared to others they’d passed. Built into the cliffs were several buildings, some on stilts.

“You guys can hang out in here,” Big Hiccup said, leading them to a large hut with a fire in the middle. “Toothless, watch them.”

Big Hiccup and Snotlout left the room. Stoick walked around, taking note of the room.

When they came back, Snotlout was more relaxed. “I’ve sent a terror-mail,” big Hiccup announced, “the others will be here soon.”

Stoick narrowed his eyes, “Who are “the others”?”

“Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruff, and Tuff,” big Hiccup listed, “As well as some other friends, possibly, but unlikely.”

Stoick hummed.

Big Hiccup clapped his hands. “Viggo isn’t an enemy to fool around with. You’ll need to defend yourselves, so let’s get you some weapons.”

Stoick got a sword. Hiccup might have expected a hammer, but that didn’t seem to be the kind of thing they had on The Edge. Big Hiccup hesitated when he looked at Hiccup, but he disappeared into a hut with a purple and red roof and reappeared with a shield.

“You know I can fight if I have the proper weapon,” Hiccup protested.

“I know,” big Hiccup responded, “let me show you how to use this.”

It turned out that there was a crossbow and a bola _ in _ the shield. “Whoa,” Hiccup muttered.

“I know right?” Snotlout said, almost sarcastically, “He’s always doing this. Making things that are way too cool.”

Big Hiccup smiled at him innocently. Snotlout muttered.

“Do we have guest rooms they can stay in?” Big Hiccup asked. Snotlout frowned.

“Tuffnut forced me to put an extra bed in my room the first time he needed space from Ruff,” he offered.

“Okay, so one.”

“Maybe Astrid has one? For Heather, or something?”

Big Hiccup sighed. “So that’s maybe two, but would she really feel okay sleeping with one of them?” he gestured at Hiccup and Stoick.

Snotlout shrugged, “We could put Tuffnut in my room and Ruffnut in Astrid’s, and they could stay in the twin’s hut.”

Big Hiccup shrugged.

The first of “the others” to show up were the twins. Tuffnut had dreadlocks, a style similar to his hair in Hiccup’s time, but also not. Ruffnut’s hair was almost the exact same, though. Tuffnut greeted big Hiccup with a high five and “What’s up H?” Ruffnut also high fived big Hiccup, but she immediately zeroed in on Hiccup.

“So this is baby Hiccup, huh? Cuter than I remember.”

“Ruffnut,” big Hiccup had his face in his hand.

“Fiiiinne,” she muttered.

Astrid arrived not long after.

Astrid approached, punching big Hiccup in the arm. “You’re adorable, both of you.”

“Thank you for that, Astrid,” he rubbed his arm.

“You’re welcome. What do we know?”

Big Hiccup shrugged. “That’s the thing. Very little, actually. Heather got them out, Dagur got me out. We don’t know anything about Viggo’s plan.”

Astrid pursed her lips. “We’ll have to wait for Heather’s next terror mail, then.”

“Actually,” Hiccup winced when they all turned toward him, “some guy overheard Heather talking about you and he grabbed her. Ryker, I think was his name?”

Tuffnut groaned. “Ugh Ryker. He’s such a pain in the ass.”

“If Ryker’s got Heather,” big Hiccup said, “then our only source of inside information is gone. We’ll have to organize watches. See if we can find out Viggo’s plan or where he’s got Heather. He’s planning something. We were just his first test.”

“Hey,” Astrid said, “Why don’t we worry about that tomorrow? Let’s get these two a place to sleep and let them explore.”

“Okay,” big Hiccup sighed, “Who has an extra bed besides Snotlout?”

No one said anything. Big Hiccup sighed again.

“I do,” Astrid said, “I built it after we got in touch with Heather.”

Big Hiccup nodded. “Okay, so your options are: let one of them,” he gestured to Hiccup and Stoick, “stay with you, or kick the twins out and have Ruff stay with you.”

Astrid made a face. “Ruff, I guess.”

Big Hiccup nodded and turned to the twins. “Tuff, Ruff, how do you feel about this?”

Ruffnut squinted. “Uh. I wasn’t listening?”

Hiccup got the feeling that his older counterpart was used to this, because he didn’t react at all, only explaining the situation.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut agreed, luckily, so big Hiccup began the tour.

“We were in the clubhouse,” he said, “it’s kind of like the Great Hall in Berk, but it’s just for us.”

The tour included the path to the twins hut, which was stylized with zippleback heads carved from wood.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do about clothes,” big Hiccup said, “we don’t have any to fit either of you.”

Stoick raised an eyebrow. “Clothes is all you’re worried about?”

Big Hiccup nodded. “We have plenty of food, we can afford to feed two more. Shelter is taken care of, clearly. We’ll be dedicating resources to figuring out how to get you home. Clothes are our main problem.”

“How difficult would it be to send someone to Berk?” Hiccup asked.

Big Hiccup frowned. “Very, with what we have now. We can’t let anyone go that far alone, so we’d have to send two, and this situation isn’t something to explain on paper, so we can’t send a terror mail.”

Hiccup closed his mouth. That had been his next suggestion.

“We’ll be starting a watch on Viggo, so that’s two people gone. Or three, if we send the twins. To send two others back to Berk…”

Hiccup nodded, but Stoick said, “Why do you need two people. And why three for the twins? Are they not capable?”

“No,” big Hiccup crossed his arms, “it’s not because they’re not capable. The buddy system exists so that if one person gets hurt, the other can either take care of them or try to get help. It relies on two dragons. The twins have a zippleback. If Barf and Belch get hit or otherwise incapacitated, they’d be stranded.”

“Oh,” Stoick muttered. “And I assume the watches are to help us figure out how to get back?”

Hiccup agreed.

“What if I had a dragon?”

Stoick and big Hiccup stared.

“Absolutely not!” Stoick exclaimed.

“That’s not a bad idea,” big Hiccup muttered.

“No,” Stoick glared at big Hiccup, “you will not put my son on the back of another dragon.”

“He’s not as fragile as you think he is, Stoick,” big Hiccup snapped.

“Have you seen him?” Stoick waved a hand at Hiccup. He shrunk back.

“I might be small but I’m smart,” he muttered.

Stoick didn’t hear him, but big Hiccup did. “He’s really smart, Stoick, more than you give him credit for.”

“It doesn’t matter how smart he is, he’ll never win in a fight. It’s too dangerous.”

“Look, Stoick,” big Hiccup said, “I know you want to protect him, but you’ll only hurt him by restricting him.”

Stoick scowled.

“Why don’t you come watch? You can make sure he’s safe.”

“Fine,” Stoick huffed.

The sun was setting, so big Hiccup announced they’d get Hiccup a dragon in the morning.

Sleeping was difficult. The absence he’d noticed the previous night was even more prominent without a fire and a dragon to begin to fill it up. The ringing in his ears was driving him crazy. It was a different tone than the ringing he’d get if he hit his head – that was higher pitched, and usually slightly different from one ear to the other. This was slightly lower and exactly the same on both sides. It was late when Hiccup finally managed to give in to his exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for leaving kudos!  
as of 9/10/19, I've edited this chapter slightly since I felt like Snotlout was a lil ooc.


	3. Dragons (big Hiccup)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dragons, a conversation, and an altercation.

The previous day, when Hiccup had taken Snotlout aside to talk about his apology, there had been tears. He’d never received an apology from any of the riders. They seemed to have forgotten about the way he’d lived for fifteen years. Hiccup had been just fine with that, wanted to forget those days. But the apology was welcome, and while his younger self had been unable to forgive Snotlout, Hiccup could. The rest of the day had been only slightly taxing, but the debate with Stoick drained the last of Hiccup’s reserves.

He woke up dreading the day. He didn’t want to deal with whatever it was that Viggo had done. Stoick was annoying, and he was grateful the man had changed in the past few years.

Case in point: Stoick brought his sword to breakfast.

“Please don’t bring weapons to meals,” Hiccup politely requested. Stoick glared at him.

“Hiccup has a dragon.”

“She’s just a terrible terror. She’s welcome as long as she remembers her manners.”

Stoick grumbled. “Dragons don’t have manners.”

Little Hiccup said brightly, “Estelle won’t bother anyone!”

“That’s that, then,” Hiccup nodded, “What’s the plan for today?”

Astrid gestured with her fish. “We’ll set up a watch on Viggo. Buddy system, sunrise to sunset.”

Hiccup nodded. “We’ll send Hiccup to Berk with someone once he gets a dragon. They’ll grab anything we need that we don’t already have; clothes, for example. And maybe explain what’s going on.”

Astrid nodded, “Good idea. Who wants first watch?”

Nobody raised their hand.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “What about who wants to go to Berk?”

“Ooh!” Fishlegs said, “I’ve been wanting to go back. We’re low on medical supplies anyway.”

Hiccup nodded, “Okay, Fishlegs is going to Berk. You’ll have a two-day rest period when you return where you won’t have to take any shifts, kay?”

Fishlegs nodded.

“Great,” Hiccup stood up, “Astrid, I trust you can handle the shifts?”

Astrid nodded.

“Awesome,” Hiccup turned to his younger counterpart, “Let’s go get you a dragon.”

The other side of the island was where the dragons hung out. There weren’t many on Dragon’s Edge, but a small flock of various species had taken residence after the riders showed up. Hiccup assumed they’d figured out that the island was protected.

On the trip there, Stoick held Hiccup back, walking several paces behind his son. “I don’t like how well he’s adjusting to dragons being  _ allies _ .” He spat the last word, as if it were poison. 

Hiccup glanced at Stoick. “You know, if I remember correctly, he’s already told you he doesn’t want to kill dragons.”

“Nonsense, of course he does. He always wanted to.”

Hiccup gestured ahead at his younger self, who was playing a game of fetch with Estelle. “Does that look like a dragon killer to you?”

Stoick was forced to admit defeat. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

There weren’t many dragon species to choose from, but little Hiccup didn’t seem to be focused on a specific species.

“Why not a nadder?” Hiccup suggested, “They’re tracker class, so it’s difficult to get separated for any large amount of time. They tend to be reliable. Several methods of defense.”

To be completely honest, the stats were more for Stoick than little Hiccup. The “failsafes” seemed to calm the man down, so Hiccup considered it a win.

“I thought they were sharp class.” Little Hiccup frowned. “I’ve never heard of tracker class.”

“They were,” Hiccup agreed, “but we reclassified them after we created the tracker class. Tracker class dragons are dragons with good senses of taste and smell that allow them to track down and find things.”

Little Hiccup continued to frown.

“There aren’t many around Berk,” Hiccup added, “Only the nadders, really.”

“Okay.”

Hiccup stopped Stoick about a hundred feet from the flock’s water source. Stoick growled at him.

“If anything goes wrong, I’ll interfere.” Hiccup assured him, “The dragons’ll listen to me.”

Stoick continued to stare suspiciously. Hiccup huffed. “Look, worst case scenario, we have a nightfury on our side.”

“Fine,” Stoick deflated.

Little Hiccup looked ready. “You know the drill,” Hiccup said, “No weapons, unthreatening, total trust.”

Little Hiccup nodded. When he was thirty feet from the water, he sat down. Estelle crawled off his head onto his thigh.

“What’s he doing?” Stoick whispered.

“Rule number one,” Hiccup said, “let the dragon come to you.”

A green nadder with purple undertones eyed little Hiccup, but didn’t approach. On the other side of the river, another nadder, this one blue and purple, stared too.

Little Hiccup didn’t look at the dragons directly, though he seemed to be aware of them. He had a notebook – possibly his notebook – and was writing or drawing something. Both Nadders approached as the boy opened a new page. They sniffed at him, the blue one nipping at his clothes.

Stoick squeezed Hiccup’s arm. “What are they doing?” he hissed.

“Relax, they’re just getting to know him.”

The blue one gave one last sniff and returned to the river. The green one, however, nuzzled into little Hiccup’s chest. He stood up, reaching a hand out.

“How bout it, huh? Wanna help me?”

The nadder squawked. Little Hiccup placed his hand on the dragon’s snout.

“Alright, let’s go.” Hiccup dragged Stoick over to little Hiccup. Stoick protested heavily, but Hiccup ignored him, something he regretted. Stoick clearly was still uncomfortable being so close to the dragons, especially wild ones.

The man raised his sword. Little Hiccup’s nadder friend hissed and puffed out his tail. The other wild dragons began circling the group, poised to attack, and Toothless. Toothless had jumped back as soon as Stoick raised the sword and began growling. Stoick raised his sword higher.

Toothless growled, the only dragon willing to get within reach of Stoick. The man shifted, taking a step back.

“Get me out of here.”

Hiccup held his hands up. “Okay, just put down the sword.”

Stoick shook his head. “Not until I’m out.”

“The dragons won’t let us go unless they know they’re safe.”

Stoick glared at everything, but the sword drooped. The dragons relaxed. “Thank you,” Hiccup said.

“Let’s go,” Stoick insisted.

“Alright,” Hiccup said, turning toward his younger self. “I’ll see you back at the Edge?”

“No,” Stoick said, “he comes back now.”

Hiccup sighed. “Dragon training isn’t an immediate thing. The dragon won’t let you ride them immediately, it takes work. He needs to stay here or otherwise get the dragon elsewhere so he can train with them.”

Stoick didn’t move for a moment. “Fine,” he said, “I’ll wait over there.” He pointed to the edge of the forest, “Make sure you don’t kill my son.”

Hiccup smiled and led the man to the forest. “Hiccup’ll be fine.”

Returning to little Hiccup, the nadder was on the ground, little Hiccup petting his neck behind the spines.

“Right,” Hiccup said, “we need you to be able to fly by tomorrow.”

Little Hiccup nodded. “I’d imagine it’s a little different than flying Toothless.”

Hiccup laughed. “It is. You won’t have the unconscious understanding that you’re used to. Flying is different for every dragon, so you’ll need to figure it out on your own.”

Little Hiccup nodded. The nadder shook his head as little Hiccup climbed onto his back. Hiccup stood in front and calmed him down.

Toothless seemed to do a better job, though. He crooned at the nadder and seemed to explain what was happening.

“Hold on,” Hiccup said, “it looks like he’s gonna take off.”

Little Hiccup leaned down and wrapped his arms as far around the nadder as he could.

The nadder leapt up and into the sky. Toothless threw Hiccup onto his back and grabbed Stoick.

“Aaahhh!” Toothless shook as Stoick tried to hold on. Hiccup rolled his eyes and leaned down, holding out a hand of Stoick to grab.

“C’mon. I don’t want to leave Hiccup up there alone.”

Stoick grabbed Hiccup’s arm, hoisting himself up. Hiccup’s leg and midsection ached.

They spent the rest of the day training the Nadder, which he named Preen. Fishlegs was absent, packing up for the trip, and Astrid has wrangled Snotlout and the Twins into first watch, so it was just the four of them. Stoick watched from a safe distance as Hiccup and Astrid tutored little Hiccup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the ending of this chapter.
> 
> I’ve got the sequel planned so that’s fun! I don’t know how long after this story ends that i’ll get the next one started but that’s weeks away.
> 
> On another note, who can guess the climax/ending?


	4. The Figure (little Hiccup + someone new!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Berk, someone new, and someone old.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [some art!](https://art-for-eli-371.tumblr.com/post/187717760049/a-sketch-for-my-story-stay-close-to-me-chapter)

Everyone had warned him that it would be a long journey, and after a full day of flying, they still hadn’t arrived at Berk.

“It’s a few hours more,” Fishlegs said at sunset. “Do you want to keep going or stop for the night?”

Hiccup squinted at the sun. “How long till we get there? If it’s soon enough that Dad is still awake when we arrive, we should keep going.”

Fishlegs nodded and kept going. Hiccup took that to mean they’d be there soon.

Sure enough, the sky was still blue (albeit a really dark blue) when they arrived at Berk.

Fishlegs insisted they land behind Stoick’s house. The man in question opened the backdoor, took one look at Hiccup, and said, “What in Thor’s name.”

Fishlegs explained the situation and Stoick invited them in.

“I’m coming back with you,” Stoick said, “to the Edge.”

Fishlegs nodded. “Please. The other you does not respect anyone and it’s driving me insane. I don’t know how Hiccup stands it.”

“I mean,” Hiccup said, “he kind of doesn’t. He yelled at my dad on the way to the Edge, and he’s pretty passive aggressive.”

Fishlegs shrugged. “The passive aggression is normal for him when he gets annoyed, but I hadn’t heard about the yelling.”

“Well,” Stoick said, “that’s fascinating. Fishlegs, why don’t you go to your parent’s house? We’ll get ready to leave tomorrow.”

Fishlegs nodded and left. Stoick turned to Hiccup. “I may have some old clothes for you.”

Hiccup gave a single puff of laughter. “Good, ‘cause I’ve been wearing this for three days.”

Stoick smiled. “I’ll look tomorrow. For now, you can sleep in Hi-your room.”

Hiccup nodded, but hesitated halfway up the stairs. “I guess it’s not really my room, is it?”

“I suppose not,” Stoick agreed, “it’s mostly the same, though. And it’s only for one night.”

“I guess so,” Hiccup said and braved the final few steps.

Stoick was right; the room was mostly the same. Many of the drawings in this room were of dragons, and the rest were people. Hiccup found a sketch of older him with the other teenagers next to the bed. Next to that was a sketch of Toothless. One part of the room had a stone slab covered in scorch marks. That must have been where Toothless slept.

Hiccup smiled. The night wouldn’t be bad.

Stoick woke him up by knocking on the frame and chucking an outfit at him.

He found that Fishlegs was ready to go already (he was either up early or had stayed up late), so he ate breakfast, grabbed the bag of clothes his father packed, and took off after Fishlegs. Stoick followed on a green and red dragon.

“What kind of dragon is that?”

“This,” Stoick patted the dragon's side, “is Skullcrusher.”

Fishlegs offered, “He’s tracker class.”

Stoick flew faster. “Let’s go. We should try to get to the Edge by the end of today.”

“Heard Viggo’s got a plan to bring down the dragon riders.”

A whisper overheard in a busy market, but one that was nevertheless intriguing. Valka raised an eyebrow.

The man packaging her food heard it too (she couldn’t survive only on fish, as much as she wished she could). “Viggo. He’s been here for years,” he informed her, “Taking care of the dragons. Haven’t had many dragon problems since he arrived, and nearly none in the past four years.”

“Really?” Valka asked, “What’s he been doing?” Let it be merciful, Valka prayed, but she knew it was likely a violent endeavor.

“He traps ‘em. Sell ‘em for parts n’ stuff.” The man handed her the food.

Valka, impassive on the outside, winced internally. She smiled and left.

She spent the next several days trying to find more information on Viggo. Cloudjumper kept high in the clouds, but somehow, dragon trappers spotted them anyway.

The first warning she got was a single arrow, whizzing by her face. Then chaos broke out. She dodged several nets and what looked like fireballs before someone showed up.

The girl wasn’t anything Valka expected. She hadn’t expected to see anyone on the back of a dragon, to be honest.

The first thing that came to mind was slavery, but a closer look assuaged Valka’s fears. The dragon (a razorwhip, it seemed) was clearly well fed, and had few scars – less than a wild dragon, even. The girl clearly took good care of the dragon.

Between the two of them, the trapper ship was easily destroyed. The girl came up close to Valka.

“I gotta say,” she said, “You’re not what I expected to find when I saw that ship taking you down.”

“No?“ Valka smirked, “Who were you expecting?”

The girl shrugged. “A wild dragon, or maybe one of my friends.”

“Your friends?” Valka asked, “Who are your friends?”

“Dragon Riders,” the girl said, “they’ve been trying to take Viggo down since they got out here.”

Valka blinked. “Can you take me to them?”

The girl squinted. “I dunno. Why?”

Valka explained that she’d only recently heard of Viggo.

“Gods I hope I’m not making the wrong decision,” she said, “sure, I’ll take you.”

The girl led the way, heading mostly south. Valka followed.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

The girl leaned back. “I forgot! I’m Heather.”

Valka smiled at the girl. “Valka,” she said.

“Tell me about your dragon riders.”

“I don’t wanna give away too much, but the leader is Hiccup.”

Hiccup. It whispered through her mind.

“Hiccup… Haddock?”

Heather stopped. “Yeah. How do you know him?”

“He’s my –” she choked on the words, “He’s my son.”

“No way,” Heather denied immediately, “Hiccup’s mom died eighteen years ago.”

“I,” Valka forced the words out, “I was carried off by dragons eighteen years ago, Heather. It’s not an illogical conclusion to come to that I’d been killed.”

“Why didn’t you return?” Heather’s voice shook. Valka privately wondered why she cared so much.

“I thought he’d be safer without me.”

“That’s bullshit,” Heather spat, “he absolutely was not. Gods, I’ve only known him a few years. Ask any of his other friends what his life was like for the first fifteen years.”

Heather turned around and continued flying.

Valka caught up with her. “Maybe I shouldn’t come.”

“No, you’re coming.”

“Why?”

“Why!” Heather shouted. She pulled up right next to Cloudjumper.

“Why do this for me?” Valka murmured.

“I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for Hiccup. Because Hiccup was the first person on Berk to treat me like a human being!” She stood up and clambered onto Cloudjumper, every word taking her closer to Valka.

“Because I consider Hiccup to be a brother. Because I know what it’s like to live your life not knowing your parents, wondering if they even loved you!” She was in Valka’s face, poking her in the shoulder.

“Because he deserves to fucking know what happened to a mom he’s been missing his whole fucking life!” Heather was close enough for Valka to see her green eyes flashing with anger. Then she turned away, something bitter crossing her face. “Though knowing Hiccup, he’ll forgive you the moment he sees you.”

She hopped back on her razorwhip and began flying again.

“Can we,” Heather twisted around, glaring at Valka. She swallowed. “Can we at least slow down and give me time to prepare?”

Heather faced forward again, her words almost lost to the wind. “No. Viggo’s got ships heading towards the archipelago and I’m worried he’s going to attack Berk. I need to warn the Dragon Riders.”

Valka didn’t speak again. They flew for several hours in silence. Valka told Cloudjumper to follow Heather and she spent the time working out what she’d say.

They came up on an island with several buildings built into the cliffs.

“There’s something you need to know,” Heather said. “Viggo has something that can bring people through time.”

Valka furrowed her eyebrows. What did that mean? Heather continued, “He used it to bring Hiccup and Stoick four years forward. That means there’s two Hiccups and two Stoicks running around.”

Valka’s jaw dropped.

“I don’t know what they did after they escaped. Last I knew, older Hiccup, nineteen years old, and younger Hiccup, fifteen years old, were hiding older Hiccup’s identity from younger Stoick. Until I know otherwise, older Hiccup is my brother, Kay?”

Valka nodded. Heather took a deep breath and swooped down to the building. Heart in her throat, Valka followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who can guess the ending/climax? It'll become more clear the closer we get to the end.


	5. Mom (big Hiccup)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heather, tears, and saliva

With no one on the Edge, it was quiet. Hiccup had gotten used to his home being noisy. But right now, there were only three people and two dragons on the Edge.

Snotlout and the Twins had announced that there was very little activity at Viggo’s base, and the trend had kept on when he and Astrid went for their shift. Now they were back on the Edge and trying to figure Viggo’s plan.

But they weren’t getting anywhere. Whatever Viggo was planning must have been put into motion before they started the watches.

Something thumped outside the clubhouse. He and Astrid turned to see Heather sliding off Windshear. There was another large dragon behind her. Off of it slid a person; a rider whom they’d never met.

“Heather! We thought you’d been captured!”

Heather gave Astrid a hug. “I was. Dagur let me out.”

“Really?” Hiccup asked, “He wasn’t exactly happy to be helping me.”

“He told me what he knew of Viggo’s plan. Apparently it’s so insane even he won’t go along with it.”

“Well that’s not good,” Hiccup said, frowning.

Heather took a deep breath. “We’re not sure exactly what he wants to do, but it involves the thing he used to bring the other versions of you and Stoick here and dragons. He’s headed towards the archipelago. He might be targeting Berk. Where are the others?”

“Little Hiccup and Fishlegs went to Berk for supplies,” Astrid explained. “The twins and Snotlout are on a watch on Viggo.” 

“Doesn’t the thing require a skrill, though? Viggo doesn’t have it.”

Heather shrugged, “I think he somehow saved some power or something.”

That wasn’t good. Hiccup pulled out some paper. “Okay, we’ll send two terrormails. One to each group.”

“We need to go after Viggo,” Astrid said.

The strange rider had been hiding in the back, and Hiccup had been fine with that while they were updating, but he needed to know who this person was.

Heather started to introduce them, but hesitated. “…where’s Stoick?”

“Sulking, why?”

Heather built up to it, taking several fortifying breaths. “This woman claims to be your mother.”

Hiccup stumbled back and Astrid said, “No!”

Heather shrugged. “That’s what I said too. But her story matches up, so she’s either a good actor or telling the truth.”

Hiccup curled shaky hands into fists. “Prove it.”

The figure approached and gently grabbed his chin. Tilting his head up, she gently traced a small scar on his chin. “My dragon, Cloudjumper, accidentally nicked you when you were a baby.”

“Since I don’t know where I got the scar, that doesn’t prove anything.”

She dropped her hand. “I could reveal myself to your father, but I’m hesitant to do that while there’s two of him.”

Heather sat down and began writing the letters, so Hiccup was able to focus on the woman completely. She slowly took off her mask.

“I mean,” Astrid said, studying her, “You look like you could be related.”

Hiccup shot her a look. She shrugged.

“Can I speak to my son alone?” The woman asked.

“No,” Heather and Astrid replied simultaneously.

Stoick walked into the room, having clearly overheard part of the conversation. The woman shoved her mask thing back on. Stoick opened his mouth to say something, but caught sight of the dragon first. His jaw dropped.

“That. That’s the dragon that killed my wife!”

His face twisted in rage and he went to attack the dragon, but Hiccup grabbed his arm. “You will not attack this dragon for something you can’t even prove it did.”

Stoick jerked away. “Whatever. Let’s just find a way to get me and Hiccup home.”

Privately, Hiccup thought,  _ I suppose she was telling the truth _ .

That didn’t make it any easier. Here was his mother, someone he thought had been dead since he was a baby. And she hadn’t come back.

She’d left him. For eighteen years he thought she was dead and it turned out she actually abandoned him. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. He muttered, “Excuse me,” and walked out of the room as fast as he could without running.

He vaguely heard his mother ask, “Where’s he going?”

Astrid’s answer was lost to the blood roaring in his ears, but he imagined she said, “He’s going to sulk in his room, fixate on a project to distract himself, and come out tomorrow ready and raving to ignore the whole situation.”

That might be what he was going to do too. He wasn’t sure yet.

Toothless followed him to his room. Hiccup curled up next to dragon and cried. Toothless laid his head on Hiccup’s back.

“Everyone – everyone told me she was dead.” He stuttered, “they said she was… she was dead. A dragon killed her. And now she’s not.”

Toothless crooned, nudging Hiccup’s head gently.

“Why didn’t she come back?”

Toothless had nothing to say to that. He instead rearranged them until Hiccup was nearly entirely surrounded by dragon. He wriggled his head under Hiccup’s arms. The position had him curling around awkwardly, since Hiccup’s back was to his chest. But he didn’t complain, only continuing to nudge at Hiccup until he began petting the dragon’s head.

Hiccup wiped the last few tears away and pressed his face into the top of his head, petting the space between his eyes. A few deep breaths calmed him down and he sat up again, picking up Toothless’ head. He looked the dragon in the eye and said, “Thank you.”

Toothless warbled, kicked the side of Hiccup’s face, and laid down next to Hiccup, no longer twisting his neck so much. Hiccup instead reached for the dragon’s tail, about two feet in front of him and much more flexible.

He gently undid the straps of the prosthetic tail. “This isn’t comfortable anymore is it?”

Toothless made a noncommittal noise, but Hiccup knew better. His own prosthetic caused him to get sore and pains on his stump. He rubbed the spot underneath the prosthetic, and let it air.

“So,” Hiccup said, “I’ve been thinking of ways to improve your tail.”

Toothless lifted his head up.

“Like, every time I fall off, your tail closes and you fall too. What if I made it so you could fly without me?”

Toothless snorted and turned away.

“Now Toothless,” Hiccup tugged at the dragon’s leg. “I know you already rejected that idea. But this would like a locking mechanism. It would keep your tail in place, which would be good for things like rescue maneuvers.”

Toothless huffed and Hiccup took that as a go ahead for work. He figured he could keep the tail mostly the same, but for the foot pedal, he’d have a spring-loaded mechanism that would push a piece of metal in place to keep the tail open to its current position. Hiccup would press down on it and take control when he was in the saddle.

When it was finished, he attached it and the tail to Toothless. “C’mon, stand up.”

Toothless grumbled, but stood up. The mechanism was keeping the tail in the closed position. Hiccup pressed his foot in and opened it to the widest position. The tail cooperated. Good. Then he removed his foot. The tail stayed open.

“Hey! What do you think?”

Toothless grudgingly approved. Hiccup took the tail back off and laid it down on the table. “Any other ideas?”

Toothless knocked a candle onto the tail. “Hey!” Hiccup picked it up before anything could catch. “This entire house is made of wood, yaknow. Besides, the tail is already sort of fireproof.”

Toothless snorted when Hiccup said “sort of.”

“I know,” Hiccup said, “But the only thing I know of that’s completely fireproof is dragonskin and I’m not going to use that to make the tail.”

Toothless scratched behind his ear, knocking a few scales into the table. “What am I going to do with your scales? Glue them onto the tail?”

The dragon nodded, something that, from what Hiccup could tell, was not dragon behavior but instead something Toothless picked up from him.

He pressed his claw into one of the scales, making it crack into two pieces.

“Okay, so we’ll have dragonscale powder… how does that help?”

Toothless shrugged. He was done helping.

Hiccup sighed, trying to wipe his hair out of his face. It wouldn’t budge. He felt along the side of his head where Toothless had licked him before. It was sticky in some places, but mostly, his hair was dried. Strangely, although it has some rigidity, it was still flexible.

“Toothless!”

The dragon lifted his head. “Your saliva acts a lot like paint!”

Ideas started running through his mind. “Glue is too heavy, it’d weight you down. Plus, if I tried to actually glue scales into your tail, it would be uneven and I would need a lot of them, making it even heavier. But if I use the scale powder and your saliva, I should get a more even coverage without the added weight.”

Hiccup grabbed a bowl. “Spit into that.”

Toothless cast Hiccup a skeptical look.

“Just do it.” He started grinding the scales as Toothless spit into the bowl.

Hiccup grabbed a brush and dumped the powder into the bowl, mixing it all together.

He painted the mixture onto a spare cloth. When it dried, he held it over a candle. It didn’t catch.

“Fireproof.”

Toothless shed a lot, and Hiccup was often cleaning his house of loose scales, so he went around searching all the corners for scales he hadn’t gotten rid of. He returned with a handful of scales, and Toothless had scratched loose another few. Hiccup began crushing them, and Toothless spat into the bowl again.

In no time at all, the tail was painted black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An explanation for Hiccup’s response to Valka: in the movie, he was overwhelmed by Drago and the sanctuary. He meets his mother, tries to ask questions, and finds she’s got a dragon paradise, something he’s been dreaming of. So his emotions are too complicated to sort out. He just kinda... befuddled.  
This time he doesn’t have that. His emotions about the time travel have been dealt with and he has no idea about her sanctuary, so it’s not the same deal. He feels the loss of his mother and he’s overwhelmed by her return, and it just... comes out.  
This is also much more serious. In the movie, Valka has a chance to immediately connect with her son and have fun. Here, she can’t do that. Hiccup’s preparing for a battle that could go south easily. He’s dealing with heavy topics. So he doesn’t have that offset of happiness to overshadow any negative feelings he has surrounding his mom. 
> 
> Who can guess the ending/climax?  
Thanks to everyone who's been reading!


	6. Explanations (little Hiccup)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A message, emotions, and preparations.

Several hours after they left Berk, a terrible terror flew right into them. Stoick grabbed the message and drew back. “Let’s set down!” The wind almost tore his words away, but Hiccup got them. A small island nearby, barely more than a sandbar, was their choice.

Stoick unrolled the parchment. “Viggo’s headed towards the archipelago. Stay on Berk, we’ll come to you. Tell Berk what’s going on. The Edge.”

Fishlegs frowned. “It’s signed “The Edge?” Normally, whoever writes the letter signs their name. Can I see it?”

Stoick shrugged and handed it over.

“This is Heather’s handwriting. She must have escaped.”

“That’s good,” Stoick said, “the Riders really care about her.”

“We really do. She and Hiccup are weirdly close.”

Stoick raised an eyebrow. “Not romantically, I hope.”

Fishlegs laughed. “Nah, they’re more like siblings. Astrid nearly killed Heather three years for trying anything romantic.”

“Astrid?” Hiccup asked. “Why would Astrid ever…? Me?”

Fishlegs and Stoick exchanged a look. “Astrid’s very protective of her spot as your… romantic interest.”

Fishlegs said, “That makes it sound bad. She just. Okay, so you like her, right? And she knows that, and she likes you back,” Hiccup’s jaw dropped.

Fishlegs glanced him over and seemed to remember he was talking to this Hiccup, the one four years younger than the friend he’s used to, “or she will. But they’re going really slow with it. So she’s protective of that spot until they’re both ready to move on with their relationship.”

Hiccup stared at Fishlegs. “What? No way.”

There was no way Astrid was interested in him. Yeah, this version of him was a lot cooler and seemed to have the respect of everyone, even enemies, but that didn’t seem like something that would be appealing to Astrid. And there was no way she was interested in Hiccup just for being Hiccup.

Stoick frowned, seeming to pick up on Hiccup’s thoughts, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’re not a normal Viking,” he said, and Hiccup frowned, hurt, “And for a long time, I thought that was a bad thing. But it’s not. You’re different. You’re unique.”

Hiccup blinked, shocked. “You’re smart, you’re innovative, and you’re a good leader. There’s no reason someone wouldn’t want you. And I’m so sorry I never told you that before.” Hiccup blinked back tears. Stoick sighed and pulled him into a hug.

Hiccup hesitantly wrapped his arms around his father. His arms didn’t even reach around the man.

Stoick squeezed tighter, almost knocking the breath out of Hiccup. He almost wanted to cry. This wasn’t his dad, right? This was an older, different version of him, so he wasn’t accurate to Hiccup’s dad. Right?

Hiccup hoped he was wrong.

Eventually, the man pulled back. “Let’s go back to Berk. If Viggo gets there before the Riders do...”

Fishlegs nodded and hopped back on Meatlug. Hiccup hesitated. “Do you think my version of you feels the same way?”

Stoick stopped. “I… don’t know. I had nearly lost you before I realized it. I’m not proud of that fact. But he does love you. He’s really bad at showing it. And he has unrealistic expectations of you, both as Hiccup and as a Viking.”

Hiccup nodded and got on Preen.

The several hours it took to get back to Berk left Hiccup hungry. His breakfast had been smaller than normal, but luckily, they arrived around lunchtime. Stoick leaned down as they walked into the dining all. “We’ll explain what’s going on while everyone’s here. You okay with being an example?”

Hiccup shrugged. “They probably won’t believe you without.”

Stoick nodded and opened the doors. Those closest to the door glanced over, briefly went back to their conversation, then turned back and went silent. As they moved through the crowd, more and more people quieted, until their footsteps could be heard. Stoick stepped up to the front of the hall. “I suppose you’re all wondering what’s going on and why Hiccup appears to be fifteen again.”

Murmurs of agreement rose, and Stoick held up a hand. “When I first heard the story, I almost didn’t believe it, except for the living proof provided by Hiccup. I’m sure many of you know the trouble the riders have had with a man named Ryker.”

Stoick let everyone think on that for a few seconds. “His brother, Viggo, is a much greater threat. Earlier this week, Hiccup was captured by Viggo. During his time as a prisoner, Viggo used his hair for something. The end result was this,” Stoick waved a hand at Hiccup, “Two more people who were prisoners. They were Hiccup and myself.”

Most people were confused. Fishlegs stepped forward to clear things up. “There are two Hiccups and two Stoicks. We have the ones we’re used to, and then there’s the ones from four years ago, before we made peace with the dragons.”

The crowd went silent, absorbing this information. Fishlegs continued, “They’re coming here, they’ll probably be here tomorrow. Viggo’s got a plan, and we’re worried it involves Berk. Be prepared for a battle. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Stoick sat down, ready to be done. Hiccup and Fishlegs followed. “Are you sure that’s good?” Hiccup asked.

Stoick waved it off. “They’ve got all the information they need. If anyone wants more, they know to come find me. If they go after you, though, feel free to deny them information and leave. You don’t have to deal with this stuff if you don’t want to.”

Hiccup nodded. He definitely planned to avoid people.

“You’re welcome to explore the village. It’s changed a lot in the past few years.”

“Uh, okay,” Hiccup said.

Lunch went by slowly. People kept coming by to ask for clarity on the situation, or sometimes just to gawk at Hiccup. Fishlegs glared at those people.

After lunch, Hiccup ran off into the forest. He wasn’t really afraid, not anymore. There weren’t likely to be dragons, and if there were, he could probably deal with or avoid them.

He ended up in the cove where he met Toothless. It was empty without his best friend. Hiccup had gotten used to spending his days with the dragon; trying to fly, having fun, making up games. They’d even had a drawing contest once! But now it was silent. Quieter than anything Hiccup had ever heard, except for the quiet moments he’d experienced since his arrival in the future. The sound of his stomach growling broke him out of his trance. The sun was setting.

He didn’t hurry back to the village. He was hungry, so he didn’t drag his feet, but his walk back wasn’t as quick as it could have been. It was lucky, too. Most people had gone home by the time he reached the dining hall. Those who hadn’t tried to swarm him, but he wiggled through the crowd and grabbed dinner, sitting down next to his dad.

Several people tried to approach him, but everyone who didn’t want to talk to Stoick were glared at, and they backed down.

“Busy day?”

Hiccup shrugged. “Not really. I think I’m going to go to bed soon.”

Stoick nodded.

Hiccup hesitated on the stairs again as he tried to go to bed. This time he knew what to expect when arrived, so he kept going. The room still looked slightly off, but the drawing calmed him down. He ignored the ringing in his ears and went to sleep.

Hiccup spent the beginning of the day exploring. He struggled to avoid people, but most of them had work they were trying to complete, or were preparing for battle, so they paid little attention to him. The few that did approach him were easy to get rid of.

Hiccup had gotten very good at distracting people and ducking away when they weren’t paying attention to him.

The arena was a place of interest. The chain roof was gone. It was still being used for dragon training, but the training taking place wasn’t the same. Instead, Gustav lead of group individuals (Hiccup recognized Spitelout and Gothi, of all people), seemingly in combat training.

“Hiccup!” Gustav shouted when he noticed him. “Why are you here? Got any advice for the A-Team?”

Hiccup laughed and shook his head. “No. I’m just watching. I could probably use some training myself, actually. I only got a day’s worth before I came here, and that was mainly just stay on the dragon.”

Gustav shrugged. “You’re welcome to join.”

Hiccup grinned and called Preen. “He actually responded to his name. Huh.”

Gustav nodded, “Yeah, most dragons, once they realize you have a sound that refers specifically to them, will respond to it. They’re pretty intelligent creatures.”

He turned to the rest of the A-Team. “You guys go over the drills we were practicing. I’m gonna help Hiccup.”

By the end of training, Hiccup was much more capable. He wouldn’t be able to fight, but he had a much better understanding with the dragon.

Training had, in fact, stopped because the Riders were there.

Big Hiccup was in the center of town fending off a hoard of villagers and trying to get to his dad. Hiccup showed up on Preen at the same time as Stoick, who shouted at the crowd to get out of his way. The Riders were able to get through the crowd. On the back of Stormfly sat younger Stoick. The two men eyed each other for a moment.

Big Hiccup saw him and grinned. “Guess who I brought!” He held Estelle up, who looked around, almost confused, then saw Hiccup and darted over to him.

Hiccup grinned. “Estelle!” The dragon curled up on his head again.

There was another person wearing a mask that slid off a dragon Hiccup didn’t recognize. Stoick seemed to recognize the dragon though, as his eyes widened, then narrowed. But he seemed to decide to deal with whatever the problem was later.

Stoick gestured to the stranger. “Who is this?”

Big Hiccup shrugged. “She’s a dragon rider Heather picked up during her escape.”

The person stepped forward. “I’m Valhallarama.” They had a feminine voice, so Hiccup assumed this was a woman, but her voice was muffled, the words coming out almost slurred. 

Stoick frowned. “You sound familiar.” He seemed to be thinking of something else, but he didn’t mention it.

The woman shrugged. “I‘ve been told I have that kind of voice.”

“What do we know?” He asked. Big Hiccup turned to Heather.

“Viggo has a… machine? that he can use to bring things forward in time. He’s using it for something in the archipelago, but we don’t know what.”

Stoick sighed. “That’s all. I don’t like going in not knowing.”

Big Hiccup nodded. “I guess it’s a waiting game now.”

They didn’t wait very long. A low, humming buzz filled the air. It was the sound Hiccup had been missing. Preen squawked and took off, Hiccup clinging to his back. Estelle was gone. The other villagers tried their dragons from taking off. Hiccup risked a glance at the ground and saw his older counterpart’s face was white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who can guess the climax? We're almost there!  
thank you to everyone who've commented/kudos.


	7. Explanations (lil Hiccup)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Messages, emotions, and preparations

The dragons began taking off as the crooning filled the air. It was a sound he’d forgotten about. The blood drained from Hiccup’s face and he whispered, “Oh no.”

The humming sound was one he recognized as the queen he’d defeated four years ago.

“Get to your dragons!” He shouted. The riders ran to their dragons, who were trying to fight off the queen’s influence.

They all got on their dragons before they lost the battle. Hiccup sped up to meet his younger self, who was definitely not comfortable not having any control of his dragon.

“Calm down,” he shouted over the wind. “You’ll be okay. Wanna climb over?”

Little Hiccup nodded, beginning to stand up. Hiccup steered Toothless underneath Preen, giving little Hiccup an easier time jumping down. Hiccup scooted up, allowing his younger self to crawl onto the saddle behind him.

“What’s going on?”

Hiccup explained, “The queen of the dragons is making a noise that kind of takes over the dragons’ minds. She used to force them to raid villages to feed her.”

“So we’re going…” Little Hiccup’s face only got paler.

Hiccup nodded solemnly. “We’re going to the nest. Viggo must have used his time thing to bring the queen back to life.”

“How will we defeat her?”

Hiccup bit his lip. “I’ve done it before. This time I know what to do, plus Toothless’s tail is stronger now.”

“Dad mentioned he nearly lost you. That was it, wasn’t it?”

Hiccup sighed. “Yeah. I nearly died the first time around.” He pulled forward. “Astrid, when we get there, we may have to enter battle immediately. Drop Stoick off on the far beach.”

Astrid nodded.

Little Hiccup said, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Please stop asking about it.”

“Okay.”

The island was swarming with dragons, but not the queen. Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. She must still be inside the volcano.

On the far side of the island, the one not strewn with debris from the battle four years ago, stood Viggo.

Hiccup sat down near the man’s camp, the other dragons following his lead.

“Viggo,” he called, “Why would you do this?”

Viggo chuckled. “Dear Hiccup, why would I tell you?”

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. “I will tell you this,” Viggo said, “I will get your entire archipelago on my side.”

Hiccup exchanged a look with his father. Did Viggo know how the queen died last time?

Viggo’s continuing words distracted him. “There is something you can help me with. You see, my machine was only supposed to bring the people related to you into the present, and only from four years ago.”

He motioned to the guards, who stepped aside to reveal a woman. “So could you perhaps tell me who this is?”

Both Stoicks gasped. The younger one tried to dash forward, but the older held him back. “We need a plan. We don’t know what Viggo will do if we attack.”

The mountain growled. Viggo cast a worried look up at the peak, but didn’t move. “I see you do know her,” he said.

Hiccup whispered, “The queen has a strong sense of smell. She probably knows there’s humans on the island. She doesn’t like that.”

Little Hiccup said, “Who is she?”

“You’ll see.” Hiccup stepped forward a little. “Just out of curiosity, how do you think the Red Death died last time?”

Viggo narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out why Hiccup cared. “My sources inform me she was challenged by one of her subjects.”

Hiccup snorted and called the group together. “The queen is getting irritated. We’ll,” he gestured to the riders, “draw her away and defeat her the way we did last time. It’s a good thing it's overcast today. You guys,” he waved at the two Stoicks, his mother, and his other self, “get her away from Viggo. If you get the chance, incapacitate his ships. We need his time thing.”

Everyone nodded. Hiccup turned back to Viggo. “Your sources were sort of right. She was challenged. By Toothless here,” Viggo’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “with the help of Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf and Belch, and Meatlug.” He gestured to each dragon in turn.

Viggo tried to turn and run, but standing on his ship was a figure clad in blue and brown. Cloudjumper had already set fire to most of the fleet.

Hiccup let out a single laugh. “C’mon, time to take down a queen.”

He hopped onto Toothless. As they flew to the mountain, Hiccup said, “I’ll draw her out. Toothless is the only one who can outfly her. Once she’s out, annoy her, like last time. Then we’ll get her angry. At that point, go help the others.”

The other riders pulled back just short of the mountainside. Hiccup and Toothless flew into one of the tunnels, firing a single shot down into the fog and pulling up. They shot out of the top of the caldera. The queen followed a minute later.

The riders immediately fell into their roles. Hiccup flipped around to return to fight, Toothless letting loose another blast. She roared at him, letting loose a barrage of flames.

“Hey Hiccup!” Tuffnut shouted, “Do you think it’s coincidence that the weather was always like this when the queen was around? And now it’s like this again?”

“Tuffnut what does that mean?”

“I dunno? Magic?”

“Whatever. Go back!” Hiccup shouted, “I got this!”

Astrid pulled up alongside him. “I can help!”

“No,” Hiccup turned away, “I’m not risking you!”

Astrid huffed but followed the other riders.

Hiccup leaned down to Toothless, “Alright Bud, just like last time.”

Toothless pulled up and darted into the cloud cover. The queen followed.

She stopped in a small clearing between clouds. Toothless and Hiccup hovered just out of her sight. She turned her back to them, and Hiccup urged Toothless forward. They dove forward and blasted a hole in her wing. She roared in pain and turned around, but they were already gone.

They came up underneath her and blasted another hole. Then they did it again from above. And again from behind her.

Just like last time, she fired all around her. Toothless was completely fireproof, luckily. Hiccup… wasn’t. He hissed in pain. Toothless crooned in concern.

“I’m okay Bud. Let’s go.”

They let gravity take over. The queen saw them and dove after them, but Toothless ensured they remained just out of her reach.

Hiccup heard the tell-tale hiss of building gas. He shouted, “Now Bud!”

Toothless flipped over and shot his last blast into her mouth, flipping back around and climbing out of the way of the explosion.

The queen saw the incoming ground and tried to spread her wings, but the holes in them ripped larger and larger. They were useless. She crashed full speed.

Hiccup sighed in relief.


	8. Skrill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Machines, reunions, and digging

The Riders took off towards the volcano and Hiccup focused back on Viggo. The woman was fighting the guard, but she was in chains.

The other woman – she’d said her name was Valhallerama, Hiccup reminded himself – began walking forward, hopping off the ship.

The younger Stoick said, “Let her go.”

Viggo narrowed his eyes. “Not until you tell me who she is.”

“That’s my wife!”

Hiccup choked. “What?”

Valhallerama had engaged Ryker in a fight, and younger Stoick was desperate to do the same with Viggo.

Hiccup turned to the older Stoick. “What? Is that my mother?”

The man nodded but didn’t take his eyes off his wife. He took a fortifying breath. “Hiccup, you go see if you can find the device he used to bring you here. We’ll deal with Viggo.”

Hiccup nodded, and when the two men had distracted Viggo, he snuck around the fight into camp behind it.

There was one big tent Hiccup assumed was Viggo’s, so he made his way inside.

He found a map of the island on a desk, but there wasn’t anything that struck him being a time-device. On the map, however, was a drawing of what might be a time-device. It at least wasn’t recognizable to Hiccup. He searched some more, finding keys in the drawer underneath the map.

He swiped the map and the keys, running out of the tent.

That was when the mountain exploded. The top burst to pieces and the largest dragon Hiccup had ever seen emerged. One of the guards ran by with Hiccup’s mother (his mother!) in hand. He disappeared inside a dark grey tent and reappeared without her.

Hiccup looked at the keys in his hand and shrugged. He darted inside the tent to find his mother in a cage.

When he reemerged from the tent, the battle was over. The other Dragon Riders had returned. Those that hadn’t been knocked out were fleeing terror.

Hiccup turned around to see what their problem was only to find the giant dragon hurtling towards the earth.

His mother grabbed him and covered him with her body. Hiccup caught sight of a silver dragon just barely evading a falling stone.

When the dust cleared, Hiccup found his older self dismounting Toothless. He had burns everywhere his leather armor didn’t protect (and some where it did), but he was smiling. “Oh-ho that was so much easier this time around.”

Hiccup blinked. The burn on his face looked bad, but the man was smiling and laughing. He wasn’t paying any attention to the pain. Instead, he gathered his friends close, checking for injuries. His own didn’t stand a chance at stopping him. His friends, on the other hand, stood a better one.

The Riders were uninjured. Fishlegs gently tugged big Hiccup’s good arm, turning the man towards him. “I’m fine, Fishlegs!” He insisted, though Fishlegs argued and sent the twins to get the first aid supplies out of Meatlug’s saddleback.

If that was the kind of person Hiccup was going to be, selfless and surrounded by people who love him, he couldn’t wait.

Stoick – his dad – approached. “Valka?”

His mother stopped what she was doing, looking down. “Stoick.”

Hiccup backed up a little, watching his parents reunite for the first time in nearly fifteen years.

He nearly cried along with his mother.

A hand landed on his shoulder and Hiccup nearly jumped out of his skin.

The moment was broken. He turned to find his older self look down at him. “Dad said you got the device?”

Hiccup shrugged. “I didn’t find any sort of time machine, but I found a map that might tell us where it is.”

“That works.”

Big Hiccup laid the map out, noting the location of the machine and hissed. “That’s near where I crashed the Red Death.”

Hiccup but his lip. “Do you think it’s broken?”

“Thor, I hope not.”

Thy glanced at the groups that were forming post battle. The Riders had circled up nearby, leaving older Stoick and the strange woman to guard Viggo.

“Let’s go. We need to find this thing.”

Toothless landed on a large, new-looking boulder. It had clearly been the result of the queen’s destruction of the mountain. Hiccup looked back at the sound of a squawk, finding Astrid hopping off Stormfly. The other Riders were close behind her.

“I guess it’s going to be a search.” Astrid scanned the area, “I don’t see anything man-made here. It may have been buried.”

“Let’s get searching.” Big Hiccup clapped his hands, directing the Riders to spread out and begin looking.

Hiccup began walking to the northern area. “How are we going to deal with all the rocks?”

Big Hiccup shrugged. “I guess we’ll get the ones we can and leave the rest.”

They searched long enough for Hiccup’s arms and back to start aching. Eventually, his older self stood up and stretched. “I guess we’re not gonna find it,” he said.

Heather smiled. “Think again! I see wood!”

Everyone ran towards her. In a small opening, a plank of wood was visible. Big Hiccup began clearing it of all the stones he could carry, the others following. But some of the rocks were too large for even all seven of them to carry.

“Do you think the dragons could get them?” Fishlegs suggested.

“Possibly, but they’d need a rigging to do it, wouldn’t they?”

Big Hiccup sighed. “Let’s try, at least. If we need to, we can go back to Berk for supplies.”

Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf and Belch proved they were up to the heavy lifting and began moving the rocks aside. The structure was getting more visible, and Hiccup began to recognize it. He’d seen it when Viggo first brought him and his dad here. At the time, he hadn’t recognized it for what was.

Now it was clearer. Some parts of it were crushed, but it had been hidden in an alcove that protected it from the worst of the attack and it was mostly okay. The metal base almost completely fine, sustaining only a few dents.

Big Hiccup produced rope and began tying the machine around the base. Stormfly and Hookfang picked up the slack and began flying back to the other side of the island. Toothless picked both Hiccups up and followed.

Viggo was still in chains. Stoick - the older one - saw the dragons returning with the machine and turned to the only non-flaming ship. The crew were blocked in the bay by the other ships, but the dragons could clear a path through to the ocean. By the time Hiccup arrived, the ship had been commandeered and the machine set down on the deck.

“Viggo is his own dungeon,” Stoick said, “and his crew work for us now.”

Big Hiccup nodded. “That’s good.” He ran a hand through his hair, “Viggo said the machine only worked thanks to the skrill, so I’m going to go find it. Hopefully, we can be back on Berk around the same time.”

Stoick agreed, “We’ll probably be back on Berk at around sundown.”

Big Hiccup nodded. “Let’s go find us a skrill.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left!


	9. Conclusions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a journey, new friends, and a smirk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS IT!! THE FINAL CHAPTER  
there will be a sequel, so subscribe to Sticks and Stones to get notified when it's uploaded!

Hiccup forbade his younger self from going with them. The boy wanted to come, even begged, but he didn’t know where his dragon was.

Hiccup won the argument by pointing out that little Hiccup had his mother back. Did he really want to waste time not getting to know her?

Speaking of, she was standing off to the side. It was hard to tell with her mask, but it looked like she was looking at her younger self and Stoick. Hiccup’s dad was staring at her, the storm he had seen in the younger one’s eyes two day previously swirling in this Stoick’s eyes.

Hiccup approached his dad. “What are you thinking?” He wondered if his dad had figured out who “Valhallarama” was.

“Nothing,” Stoick turned away. “You should go. You have to find the skrill, don’t you?”

Hiccup nodded and wandered back to the dragon riders.

The skrill hadn’t had a home in a while. It likely hadn’t returned to the icy prison Hiccup had left it in years ago.

Fishlegs provided known habitats of the skrill: it lived in the mountains and was known to frequent Berserker Island, Outcast Island, and Berk itself.

“Gods I hope it’s not on Berserker Island.” Hiccup groaned. He was not prepared to face the Berserkers. Outcast island, on the other hand, might fare a better chance. They at least wouldn’t kill the riders on sight. 

His burn burned when he tried to speak, but he didn’t have time to let it heal. He’d probably pay for it later, but he was going to get the skrill.

“How do we even know it’s in the archipelago?” Astrid shouted.

“It flew this way when I released it,” Hiccup explained, “Plus, it’s from here. It might want to return. But you’re right, we don’t know for certain.”

They flew to Outcast Island first, figuring it wouldn’t go to Berk and not wanting to pay Berserk a visit.

He sent Heather and Astrid to the other side of the island, where the village wasn’t, and had the other Riders spread out. He went down to see Alvin.

Alvin greeted him with a grin. “‘Ey Hiccup, ‘ow you been?”

Hiccup returned the greeting, “We’ve been good. You?”

Alvin said, “Our dragons disappeared earlier today. Do you know why that is?” He paused and said, as if he were just seeing Hiccup, “And what happened to your face?”

Hiccup explained the situation, keeping the time travel bit out. That didn’t seem like something they wanted getting around.

“The skrill, huh?” Alvin scratched at his beard. “Yeah I saw ‘im a few days ago. ‘E went west. Not sure if ‘e left the island or not.”

Hiccup thanked him. “Your dragons will return if you give them some time,” he assured.

The west. What was west of Outcast Island? Not Berserk, luckily.

He called the Riders back, directing them in the direction Alvin pointed him in.

“There’s an island that matches the skrill’s habitat a few hours flight,” Fishlegs said, pulling out a map.

“Hiccup,” Snotlout pulled forward, “Hey, question. What are we going to do when we find the skrill? ‘Cause last I checked, it doesn’t like us.”

“Maybe Snotlout will get electrocuted again,” Ruffnut laughed. Tuffnut chortled along. “I’ll have to translate again.”

“Snotlout will not be getting electrocuted,” Hiccup said, glaring at the twins. “No one is. The skrill seemed to have some respect for me when I let him go, so hopefully he’ll be willing to help us.”

“Fine.”

Heather was the one that found the skrill, living in one of the caves on the mountainside. Hiccup hesitantly approached, alone and devoid of all weapons.

“Hey,” he murmured. The skrill hissed at him. Hiccup was expecting that.

“I know we hurt you in the past, and I’m sorry for that,” he held a hand out, ignoring the sharp pain as the skin pulled, “But we need your help. Will you help us please?”

The skrill snorted and turned away. Hiccup sighed and sat down. Normally, he would leave the dragon in peace, but he needed his help.

“Look, Viggo used you to do some bad things, and we need your help to undo the bad things. Please?”

The skrill cast a suspicious look at Hiccup, before standing up and nosing gently at the burn. It was the lightest on his neck, probably only first degree. Hiccup winced. “Yeah, Viggo did that too.”

The skrill drooped, as if giving up, and walked out of the cave. Relief flooded Hiccup.

It was dark when they reached Berk. Hiccup found his dad half-asleep in his chair. “Hey Hiccup.”

“Hey dad. What’re you doing up?”

“I gave the bedroom to, uhh, the other me. I’m sleeping here.”

Hiccup nodded. He was doing the same thing with little Hiccup, or he planned to at least. “What’s the status on the machine?”

“Lil Hiccup says he can probably fix it. He saw it when Viggo used on him before, though he’d only gotten a few minutes to see it and he wasn’t paying much attention to it.”

“I’ll help him if I can,” he promised.

Stoick nodded, trying to go back to sleep. Hiccup climbed up the stairs.

Toothless was already laying down on his slab, glancing at the figure on the bed occasionally.

Hiccup gently nudged the dragon with his foot. “C’mon, move over. I’m sleeping with you tonight.”

Little Hiccup woke up. “What?” he muttered, “No need. I can find somewhere else to sleep.”

He tried to get out of the bed, but Hiccup was there to push him back down. “Stay. I’ve slept with Toothless before. I’ll be fine.”

Little Hiccup glared suspiciously, but was too tired to protest. Instead, he lay back down without making a fuss.

The morning dawned bright. Hiccup was woken at dawn by an excited Toothless, who wanted to go on an early morning flight. Hiccup wanted to see the machine in the light. They compromised on it and flew to the arena, where the skrill had been sleeping with several other dragons and the machine.

The damage wasn’t too bad. The worst had been to the wood parts, of which there were few. They could probably get it working within the day. A closer inspection revealed instructions carved into the metal, so at least they had a starting point for working the thing.

Hiccup began making measurements. He would compare notes with his younger self when he woke up.

When the sun halfway up, the skrill woke up, took one look at the machine, and shrieked.

“I know,” Hiccup muttered, “You probably never want to see it again. It’s only for today, though.”

Not long after, both younger Stoick and little Hiccup came down. He showed his younger self the blueprint he’d created. “What do you think? Am I accurate at all?”

Little Hiccup looked it over and pointed out some of the beams. “These stick out, they don’t go straight to the top.” He took out some charcoal and began sketching over the blueprint.

“That looks about right,” he muttered, “Sorry, I didn’t get a good enough look at the thing to do any better.”

“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Hiccup said, “It just has to work.”

Little Hiccup nodded. “Right.”

Hiccup organized some of the builders of Berk to help with the reconstruction of the machine, leaving his younger counterpart to guide construction while he went to Gothi for treatment for his burn. It had probably been a bad idea to wait almost a day, but the first aid Fishlegs had insisted on was enough to last him. Now though, it had begun hurting again. A lot.

Gothi treated his wounds in disapproving silence. She’d wrapped a bandage full of burn paste around his head, neck, back, and arm, then whacked him gently over the head. “Wha-?”

She put her hand over his mouth. She wrote, _don’t speak until your face is healed_. Hiccup already knew he wouldn’t be following that rule.

At lunchtime, little Hiccup gushed about how “they actually listen to me. No one back home does that, they just shove me away.”

Hiccup nodded, “I remember that. I was so confused when I woke up and I was suddenly the dragon expert. People came to me about everything involving dragons.”

“It’s difficult though,” little Hiccup complained, “I don’t mean to complain; I like leading, but wow, there’s a lot more that goes into it than I thought.”

Older Stoick agreed, “That’s why you start with smaller groups of people, at first, like your construction group. There’s only three men, right?”

Little Hiccup nodded. Stoick continued, “And he,” he jerked a thumb at Hiccup, “began leading with his friends. He’s been getting pretty good at it, too. He might be ready to become chief soon.”

Hiccup’s head shot up and he glared at his father. Pointing his fork at the man, he said, “No.”

Stoick laughed. His younger counterpart watched the interaction with a little bit of confusion.

“How close are you to finishing?” Astrid asked.

Little Hiccup shrugged. “Maybe later this afternoon?”

Younger Stoick sat up higher. “Good. I can’t wait to get home.” His son looked down at his plate, face unreadable.

Hiccup took the time before they sent the others back to seek out his mother. She had apparently stayed in the woods with Cloudjumper and was avoiding other humans.

“When are you going to tell him?”

She jumped, but didn’t turn around. “I don’t know. Tonight, probably.”

Hiccup sighed. “How has he not recognized you already? I understand how, before he knew you were alive, he might have brushed it off as a similarity, but your voice is distinctive enough.”

“I think he has, Hiccup. He’s just… not accepting it. He doesn’t want to deal with it right now, during what qualifies as a crisis.”

Hiccup sighed. Apparently both his parents were emotionally constipated idiots.

Valka continued, turning away from Cloudjumper and looking him in the eyes. “As long as he can’t prove I’m me, he can pretend nothing’s changed.”

“I think you need to tell him soon.”

“I will,” she promised. “In the meantime… can we try again? I know I hurt you, but if you’re willing, I want to be in your life.”

The thought filled him yearning. For the first time in his life, he could know his mother. He could talk to her, tell her about his life. He’d been idealizing the concept of a mother for nineteen years. But now that he was faced with the real thing, he found himself shrinking back in fear. But still. This was his mother. He had a chance now.

He took a fortifying breath. “I’m willing to try.”

Mid-afternoon passed by and little Hiccup reported that the machine would be ready to go within an hour. Younger Stoick began making preparations for the trip back; mainly gathering his clothes and anything else they’d on them when they arrived. Little Hiccup was carrying a drawing journal Hiccup had given him.

Hiccup instructed the Skrill to fire at the machine, and he did. The crack of lightning was deafening. He looked up. The other two were still there. “What.” Hiccup whispered.

Stoick looked up and, upon seeing Hiccup, said, “It didn’t work. Why didn’t it work?”

Hiccup groaned. “I’m going to go find out.”

Viggo was locked up in the prison, which wasn’t the biggest. It existed solely to hold criminals before they were shipped off to Outcast Island. But it did the trick.

Hiccup stormed into the prison, getting right up close to the gate. “Why won’t it work?”

“Why won’t what work?”

Hiccup punched one of the bars. “You know what I’m talking about. The time machine!”

Viggo chuckled, leaning forward as if to divulge a secret. “Dear Hiccup… whoever said the machine works both ways?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm marking this as complete, but I have a sequel planned, so when I start posting that, I'll update this with a new chapter directing you to that.

**Author's Note:**

> Who can guess the ending/climax? //   
okay so as of chapter 7 one person has guessed it!


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